1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing system, information processing apparatus, and image processing method.
2. Background Art
The range of color reproduction (i.e., color gamut), between color spaces such as input color space of a digital still camera and scanner image data, color space of a display (e.g., standard RGB (sRGB)), and RGB color space proposed by a specific vendor, on the one hand, and devices that output on paper such as a printer on the other is largely different. Also, the color reproducibility range varies in accordance with characteristic of colorant and combination of colorant and recording medium (paper). Therefore, reproducible color hue among printers with different image forming methods, such as electrophotography, inkjet, and thermal transfer, and with different models is different.
If the color gamut that a printer can reproduce varies largely, sometimes a user who edits an image on a desktop needs to reedit the image due to the difference between color on the desktop screen and the color as printed on paper. Also, in commercial printing that prints identically in large quantities, it is possible to suffer a loss that produces massive numbers of printouts that do not satisfy the customer.
Furthermore, sometimes it is requested to print using different printing methods such as electrophotography, inkjet, and thermal transfer depending on the purpose. In that case, sometimes the same color cannot be reproduced due to the difference of printing methods when just a certain level of correction is configured on the desktop screen.
To resolve the issues described above, various technologies have been proposed. For example, to reproduce colors uniformly among multiple output devices, a technology that defines the color gamut of a virtual device that includes color gamut of multiple output devices and whose color gamut shape is similar to those of output devices such as printers rather than input color space such as RGB has been proposed (e.g., JP-2002-252785-A). In addition, in the technology described in JP-2002-252785-A, after storing representative color data that compresses input color data within the color gamut, color compression from the representative color data to color gamut of the output device is performed. Consequently, it is possible to reproduce colors faithfully across different output devices.
To adjust image quality so that it is suitable for each output device, another technology that changes and adjusts parameters in accordance with the type of output device (e.g., inkjet or electrophotography) and recording media (e.g., paper) has also been proposed (e.g., JP-2007-213575-A).
A technology that includes color gamut compression that nestles adjusted colors within the reproducible color hue to prevent colors from being irreproducible with a color image display apparatus after adjustment has also been proposed (e.g., WO-2005-048583-A).